Friday, April 27, 2012

Welcome to this month's Point of View reveal! The theme for April is "Teacher Appreciation/End of School". This month's theme was just the motivation I needed to get my daughter's preschool teacher gifts done early... woohoo! Take a look at the great ideas the members of Point of View have come up with this month...

As always, you can check out each of the projects by visiting each of the blogs listed above.

In case you missed my SNAP conference recap post this week, guess what?!? All five members of Point of View were at the conference! It was so great to spend a little time getting to know these ladies better.

Back (L to R): Ashlee, Leanne, Jonie, Gwen; Front: Amy

OK, let's get to it... My project this month is cute, quick, and simple. Both of my girls were able to help with this project. Check out these fabric covered button magnet sets...

Aren't they adorable? And they are so easy to put together. My four year old had the best time picking out fabric to use for each of these magnet sets. She can't wait to give them to her preschool teachers at the end of the school year. Click HERE to read the details of my project.

Now it's your turn. Do you have a Teacher Appreciation/End of School project that you would like to share? We would like to invite you to join the Point of View Link Party! It doesn't have to be a new project... If you have a Teacher Appreciation or End of School project in your archives, link it up! We want to see what you've created. You can link up to the Point of View link party on any member's blog and your link will show up in the party on all five blogs! Add the Point of View button to your post so that others can join the party. And remember, by linking up you have the chance to be featured by one of the members of Point of View next week!

This month's Point of View theme is "Teacher Appreciation/End of School". We have eight (yes, I said eight) people to give to at my daughter's preschool. It can get pretty expensive when it comes to holiday and end of school year gifts for eight teachers, so I wanted to come up with something inexpensive that my daughter could help me make. I decided to go with fabric covered button magnet sets for each teacher. These are so easy; anyone can make them. Seriously, no excuses... my two year old was helping us. I'm not going to go into a full tutorial on these because they are pretty self-explanatory and the directions for covering the buttons come right on the package of the cover button kit. But I will tell you what you need and what sizes I used.

My cover button kit came with a round plastic template to trace onto my fabric for each magnet, but some kits have a circle template that you cut out from the cardboard backing of the package. Look over your fabric and choose which images you want to display on your magnets. Center your template over each image, trace around the template, and cut each traced circle from your fabric.

Now it's time to cover your buttons. The directions will be on the back of your cover button kit, or you can check out the very first tutorial I ever wrote on this blog for more details on covering buttons... scroll about halfway down that post to the title Part II: Making and Adding the Fabric Covered Button.

After your buttons are covered, glue a magnet onto the back of each button. Test your magnets first. Some magnets only stick on one side, so make sure that the "sticky" side that sticks to your fridge is not the side you glue to the back of your button.

I wanted a cute way to display the buttons, so I used my Sizzix Big Kick die cutter to cut out some extra large tag shapes from cardstock. My daughter signed her name on the back of each tag, then I used a little piece of double sided tape to stick the magnets to the front of the tags. Easy-peasy and ready for gifting!

These are not only a great teacher appreciation gift, but they are also a great little gift to keep on hand for unexpected (or forgotten :) occasions. And I think it was nice that my daughter was able to help out with this one, too.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

I don't even know where to begin. If you ever have the opportunity to attend a blog conference, I highly recommend it. It is an awesome experience. Spending time with other creative bloggers who "get it" is a wonderful thing. And all of my nervousness before I left was, of course, absolutely unnecessary :)

I flew into Salt Lake City on Wednesday night, and Amy (Ameroonie Designs) picked me up at the airport. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that Amy and I have become good friends since blogging brought us together a year and a half ago. And from the minute we found each other at the baggage carousel at the airport it was like we had known each other forever. If you had told me a year and a half ago that one of my best friends was going to be someone who lives on the other side of the country who I met over the internet, I would have told you that you were crazy. And I would have been very wrong.

Me and Amy

OK, so Wednesday night Amy and I met up with Lorene (i am just Lu) for dinner. Lorene wasn't attending the conference, so I was so excited that I got a chance to meet her while I was out there. She is so adorable! We chatted for several hours and were at the restaurant well past closing time. Luckily the employees didn't mind us hanging out while they cleaned up.

Lorene and I

Thursday morning we headed to the conference facility, Thanksgiving Point. What a beautiful place! When we registered we were given an amazing swag bag. I can't even begin to list all the awesome free stuff we got, but I will say that when I left the conference on Sunday morning, half of my giant suitcase was swag, and I am in no way exaggerating. Very cool.

The view from our hotel room... snow-covered mountains.

My roommates for the weekend were Amy, Leanne (Organize and Decorate Everything), and Kara (Creations by Kara). We had such a great time together and were up until 2am on Friday night chatting and eating junk food. I think Amy was expecting an entire herd of bloggers to stay in our room with us because we didn't even begin to put a dent in the snacks that she brought :)

I started looking for Tasha (Creation Corner) as soon as we arrived at the conference, and I eventually found her at dinner on Thursday night. We had a few opportunities to chat throughout the conference, and she is so sweet! I was so happy that I had the opportunity to meet her and discuss blogging and real life for a bit.

Me and Tasha

One of the coolest things about the SNAP conference is that all five members of Point of View were there! We got to meet, hang out, and spend a little time talking shop. I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to meet these women that I get to work with every month!

Meeting people was definitely the best part of SNAP. I mean, I actually got to talk face-to-face with bloggers I love. I met Amy from Diary of a Quilter (super nice, down-to-earth lady... love her!), Jess from Craftiness is not Optional, Kirstin from kojodesigns. I spent some time with Kari and Becky from Ucreate, had a nice conversation with Amy from The Idea Room, talked with Michelle from Someday Crafts. One of my favorite memories is a quick conversation with Ashley from Lil Blue Boo (that woman is incredible).

I need to write another post on what I took away from the conference. I'm not sure what I want to say at this point, so give me a little time to collect my thoughts, and I'll get back to you :) Overall, amazing experience, the SNAP team did a fantastic job putting this conference together, super glad that I went, and I miss Amy already!

P.S. Reminder... Point of View is this Friday. The theme for April is "Teacher Appreciation/End of School". Get those projects ready to link up!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I'm hopping on a plane this afternoon and flying out to Utah for the SNAP! creative blog conference!

I am feeling more emotions at one time than I have in a very long time. I have never left my children for more than two nights. I'm freaking out a little bit. I am super excited to be on my own with like-minded creative bloggers for the next three days, but honestly even that scares me a little. Meeting some of my blog friends for the first time in real life has me a bit nervous. I know I just need to get there and stop worrying, but my mind is racing with a million "what ifs" right now. Wish me luck, and I'll be back with all the details next week!

The Beginner Bloggers Club (BBC) is a really great series that Kristin is hosting. All month long there are posts featuring new bloggers as well as posts by "mentors" giving advice and sharing tips with new bloggers. I wish the BBC had been around when I first started out! You can check out my post on building a table in HTML here and find links to the other BBC posts here. Great info for new and seasoned bloggers alike!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Its been about nine months since there have been any new babies in my life, but you might remember this hoop and this hoop from last summer. My cousin and his wife welcomed a baby girl last Wednesday, so I quickly whipped up another hoop so I'd have it done to bring to Vermont with us for Easter weekend...

See that little cow on the left?

I really wanted to put a cow on this hoop because my grandparents were dairy farmers, and my cousin and I spent a lot of time together on my grandparents' farm growing up. I lucked out and found that little cow on (of all things) some Hello Kitty fabric I had. And the colors of the bunting perfectly match the colors in the nursery... a happy coincidence.

I got to see the baby while we were up in Vermont, and she's beautiful. You forget how small they are when they're that new :)

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

I cut up a scarf that I bought at Target a few months ago. I didn't like the tassels on the ends of the scarf, but I did like the print, so I decided to use it to try out this pattern. The fabric is very thin – like a cotton lawn – so this version ended up being less structured. It's more of the necklace look. It's such a neat design, with two knots and lots of options for changing the look of it.

Shannon's directions are really clear and detailed. This came together super quick, and for me to say that – as slow a sewist as I am – that's saying something. I highly recommend this pattern, and next time I'm going to try a more structured look with a heavier weight fabric. Can't wait!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Easter is only a week away, and I'm on an applique kick! Today I'm sharing a tutorial for a cute, simple, and quick Easter bunny embroidery hoop...

This project uses fabric scraps and can be put together so quickly that you definitely can find time to get this done before this weekend.

This hoop was inspired by some cookies I found on Etsy. You never know where inspiration will come from :) Ready to put one together? Here's the how-to...

Materials:

background fabric (approximately 11" square)

scraps for bunny (I used gray and pink.)

fusible web (I used Heat n Bond Lite.)

7" embroidery hoop

fabric paint or embroidery floss for eyes

iron

glue gun

thread

Instructions:

Step 1: Print out this template at 100% (no scaling, do not "fit to page")...

Step 2: Following the manufacturer's directions, apply fusible web to the back of all of your fabric scraps that you are going to use for the bunny pieces.

Using the template from Step 1, cut out the ears*, inner ears*, head, and nose from your fusible web backed fabric scraps. *Important: add about ¼" to the bottom of each ear and inner ear. This is so you can overlap the bottom edge of the ears with the head piece.

Step 3: Place your background fabric right side up. Lay your embroidery hoop in the center of your background fabric. Remove the fusible web paper from the back of each of your bunny pieces and arrange the pieces inside the embroidery hoop.

Once you have them arranged to your liking, start pressing each piece in place, following the manufacturer's directions. Start with the ears, then the inner ears.

Next, overlap the head over the bottom edge of the ears. I placed my embroidery hoop back on top to see exactly where I wanted to press the head in place.

Then press the nose in place.

Step 4: Time to sew around the edges of each piece. I used Maureen's technique for my applique – a straight stitch, using black thread, that leaves the edges raw – but you could use a zigzag or satin stitch with coordinating thread, depending on what look you prefer.

Step 5: Time to add your bunny's eyes. Again, this one is up to your personal preference. You can embroider the eyes, or I painted mine on with fabric paint (because my embroidered circles never quite turn out to be circles).

Step 6: Almost done. Stretch your completed bunny square inside of your embroidery hoop. Make sure to align the bottom of the bunny's head with the bottom curve of the hoop. Trim the excess fabric to 3/4" from the edges of the back of the embroidery hoop. Use your glue gun to glue the edges of the fabric to the inside of the back of the hoop. Cover the back with felt if desired.

And you're done!

So glad I was able to squeeze this project in before Easter. If you find time to make one, add a picture to the Gwenny Penny Flickr group. I'd love to see it!

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No part of this site, or any of the content contained herein, may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without my express permission.

That being said, I am thrilled when other blogs link to or feature my projects! One photo may be used as long as it is given proper credit. Please link back to my original post, but please do not copy my entire project or post onto your own blog or website without my permission. My tutorials and printables are for your own personal use only please.